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0 votes
2 answers
133 views

What experiment should be conducted?

Im self studying physics and came to this question in my textbook: A passenger in a moving bus with no windows notices that a ball that had been at rest on the aisle suddenly start to move towards ...
Chris Christopherson's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
85 views

How does Newton's First Law show the existence of inertial reference frames? [duplicate]

Newton merely stated the law of inertia as: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced ...
Haria Kumar's user avatar
-1 votes
5 answers
134 views

Newton: an object in motion remains in motion: was there anyone else who believed this? [closed]

From my own experience as a schoolkid, that was the law that I was not buying. I could see his understanding of the Lunar orbit making him think this but otherwise, what in human experience would lead ...
releseabe's user avatar
  • 2,238
3 votes
6 answers
1k views

Mass definition

One definition of mass is 'a measure of the quantity of matter in an object at rest relative to the observer'. What do 'at rest' and 'relative to the observer' mean here? I know it has to do with mass ...
Salma Abdelaziz Abdeldayem's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
290 views

Thought experiment in Mach's principle - Can a void universe be considered with special relativity?

Mach's principle is based on a thought experiment in which an astronaut floats in the middle of a space devoid of all matter and all landmarks. No star, no source of energy is present, whatever the ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
213 views

Why are there so many fundamental differences between contact forces and gravity?

I had this very fruitful conversation about the inertial motion of charged particles on gravitational/electric fields. A field force like gravity, can't be felt, it does not produce proper ...
Arc's user avatar
  • 350
1 vote
2 answers
208 views

Is the motion of an electron bound into an atom inertial?

When a particle moves on a gravitational potential subject to no contact and tidal forces, the particule clearly is in inertial movement. But what about the "motion" of an electron bound ...
Arc's user avatar
  • 350
2 votes
3 answers
163 views

Equivalence principle, geodesics, and proper acceleration are exclusive to general relativity, or they can be understood in classical mechanics terms?

I have been told that "inertial movements, or distinction between proper and coordinate acceleration don't have meaning out of GR". But now I'm confused, I always though of these concepts in ...
Arc's user avatar
  • 350
1 vote
2 answers
166 views

Inertial movement of a body on the surface of a planet being dragged away

When we stand still on the surface of Earth, this is clearly a non-inertial frame. Inertial frames of reference are characterized by accelerometers measuring zero, so you fell weightless when you: 1) ...
Arc's user avatar
  • 350
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

Red shift/Blue shift as a standard for determining absolute motion

If I begin standing, I can imagine that there are photons of various wavelengths arriving at my location from all directions. If we eliminate local energy coming from stars and radiating bodies, ...
Joseph Hirsch's user avatar
29 votes
16 answers
8k views

When a car accelerates relative to earth, why can't we say earth accelerates relative to car?

When a car moves away from a standstill, why do we say that the car has accelerated? Isn't it equally correct to say that the earth has accelerated in the reference frame of the car? What breaks the ...
cometraza's user avatar
  • 416
18 votes
4 answers
6k views

How is Newton's first law of motion different from Galileo's law of inertia? If the two are the same, then why is the first law named after Newton?

Galileo's law of inertia (at least what I've learned) is "A body moving with constant velocity will continue to move in this path in the absence of external forces". And Newton's first law ...
Vedant Rana's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
200 views

How does inertia forces depend on speed?

I was learning about Reynolds number in fluid mechanics and it is given as $$Re= \frac{\rho V L}{u} $$ Physically, compares the inertia and viscous forces acting in a fluid. I get that density will ...
Harshit Rajput's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
819 views

Could you determine if you were moving when standing on an infinite, frictionless plane?

I'm quite curious to know about this question. I don't really fully understand how inertia works so I couldn't quite put this one together in my head. As far as I know, if you are moving in empty ...
Jeremy's user avatar
  • 51
1 vote
1 answer
138 views

The definition of inertia in Mach's principle

Can anyone please explain me Mach's principle, i.e the definition of inertia he has given? I am really not getting what spin and universe have to do with inertia because what we are taught in our ...
Nandani Kumari's user avatar

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